Three Online Students Receive ASPCA Scholarships for Fall Semester

Congratulations to our fall ASPCA scholarship recipients!

Thanks to a generous grant from the ASPCA, these three outstanding students will have the opportunity to gain knowledge that can help save the lives and improve the well-being of countless numbers of shelter animals. As students in Maddie’s® Online Graduate Certificate Program in Shelter Medicine, they will receive a tuition reimbursement upon successful completion of the current course, Shelter Animal Physical Health.

Dr. Frank Bossong
Dr. Frank Bossong

Dr. Aimee Dalrymple
Dr. Aimee Dalrymple

Dr. Ruth Woodward
Dr. Ruth Woodward
Click on an image to meet the scholarship recipient!

Meet the Recipients


Dr. Frank Bossong
Dr. Frank Bossong

Dr. Frank Bossong

After graduating from the University of Georgia, College of Veterinary Medicine in 2001, I moved to Pasadena, Ca to begin my veterinary career as an Associate Veterinarian at an AAHA certified hospital. While in private practice, I had several clients bring shelter animals to me for medical treatment when these patients were not receiving the necessary care at the shelter. It soon became evident to me that these animals represented a larger group in dire need.  After several visits to this local facility, I met the shelter director and encouraged him to hire a veterinarian.  He offered me the position in 2005, and I immediately initiated medical protocols, established policies and procedures for the shelter, and opened a low-cost veterinary clinic to aid an underserved community.

I then established the shelter as a rotation site for Western University’s College of Veterinary Medicine students and for students from local RVT programs. In 2009, I was hired by WesternU to continue to instruct students in surgery and shelter medicine on their mobile vehicle. Even though I had several years of valuable small animal experience, I realized I needed to be a ‘self learner’ in Shelter Medicine. Completing the University of Florida’s Certificate Program has given me the opportunity to further my education and has provided me with a solid background in multiple aspects of the discipline. Currently I am on the Board of Directors of the shelter where I began my journey in this vocation and I donate my time as their veterinary advisor.  I continue to expand my knowledge base through the Maddie’s Online Certificate program in order to better serve them.  In pursuing this certificate, I am better prepared to facilitate my students as they too pursue their interest in the emerging and noble field of Shelter Medicine. In turn, I hope all of the animals in our care will receive the best of what we currently have to offer them.


Dr. Aimee Dalrymple
Dr. Aimee Dalrymple

Dr. Aimee Dalrymple

Dr. Aimee Dalrymple is a 1995 graduate of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. After many years in small animal private practice, she began working with rescue groups in the Metrowest area of Boston. She was so inspired by these caring volunteers saving homeless pets that she decided to limit her part-time practice to shelter/rescue medicine. When the University of Florida Maddie’s Fund  Shelter Medicine program offered their first online class last fall, she immediately signed up, and she will complete the certificate this December. Dr. Dalrymple says, “This certificate will be a valuable qualification for me as I build my practice from a small part-time endeavor into a full-fledged business. Right now, I work with just a few rescue groups, but I see the potential to serve as a consultant to many more small shelters and rescues that do not have the resources to hire a veterinarian of their own. I would like to serve as a shelter medicine expert to improve the health and welfare of the entire population, not just individual animals as a private practitioner typically would. I am also very interested in pursuing board certification if a practitioner/non-conventional path is approved, and this certificate would be the first step in that direction.


Dr. Ruth Woodward
Dr. Ruth Woodward

Dr. Ruth Woodward

Dr. Ruth Woodward graduated from the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine in 1991.  Upon graduation she entered the field of biomedical research as a clinical veterinarian specializing in nonhuman primate medicine and surgery.  Her introduction to the shelter field occurred at the age of 15 as a volunteer at the Montgomery County Humane Society in Rockville Maryland and after 17 years in the veterinary field she felt a desire to give back to her community by volunteering at the Frederick County Animal Control & Adoption Center (FCAC).  She first became a member of the Companion Animal Welfare Advisory Committee however over time realized that her true passion was working directly with the animals and began to provide additional services to the FCAC.  Her first foster assignment was a young cat that had a broken leg and required special care.  “Val” never left and is now part of the family.

Upon leaving federal service Dr. Woodward desires to practice veterinary clinical medicine in the shelter medicine field where she can help homeless and less fortunate animals in Frederick County.  It was this goal which prompted her to enroll in the Maddie’s Shelter Medicine certificate program as the training received through the online program will provide her with the latest information in the field.

The Shelter Animal Behavior & Welfare course (VME6812) and the Integrating Veterinary Medicine with Shelter Systems course (VME6810) have provided her with solid foundation and has introduced her to many colleagues in the shelter medicine field.  After completing these two courses and “meeting” her shelter medicine colleagues she is more confident that this is the right direction for her to follow in the second phase of her veterinary career.  She will complete the certificate program in December.


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